Sunday, January 14, 2007

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is expected to name his shadow cabinet within days, CTV Newsnet tells me every 15 minutes. Shadow cabinet speculation isn’t as fun as cabinet speculation but hey, we take what we can get. Think of this as a speculative training run.

Oh, and by the way, I’ve learned from sources that Rona Ambrose will cross to the Liberals within days, and be given the environmental critic portfolio by Dion. Also, upset his report won’t be made public, Wajid Khan will be crossing to the NDP. Apparently he likes Jack’s commitment to family values. Media and bloggers please be sure to credit A BCer in Toronto when reprinting this exclusive information.

Anyway, I’ve seen no speculation as yet as to whom will be getting what critic portfolio. The media reports speculate Ralph Goodale will be left out of the shadow cabinet. Is Ralph not running again? If he’s not, it may make sense to promote the other Saskatchewan Liberal MP, Gary Merasty. But if he is running, it seems tough to leave out such a capable veteran as Ralph.

On with the speculation though. I’m not going to go through all the possible positions (here's the current list), but some of the bigger names anyway.

Michael Ignatieff is already deputy leader and I think he’d be a good critic for foreign affairs or national defence. I think he’d tear either Peter McKay or Gordon O’Connor to shreads.

Bill Graham would also be good in either foreign affairs or national defence, as a former minister of each. Whichever one Iggy doesn’t get.

Carolyn Bennett as a doctor and former Minister of State for Public Health would seem a good fit for health critic.

Ken Dryden is someone I think would be a very interesting choice for Canadian Heritage.

Scott Brison talked a lot about the environment in his speech in Montreal. I think he might be an interesting environment critic, but I’m undecided. As a business Liberal he would help emphasize the green economy portion of the policy reassuring the right, but the left could see it as an opportunity to question our true environmental commitment. If not the environment then rural affairs, another key campaign issue for Scott and one the Liberals need to give more profile to.

I won’t go through more names, but I’d invite your speculation/wishful thinking in the comments section. I’ll say out in BC though I’d hope for higher profiles for Blair Wilson, Don Bell and Keith Martin. Ujal Dosanjh shouldn’t be forgotten too.

On a completely unrelated note, great post today by HarperBizarro on the Conservatives using taxpayer-funded mailers for partisan attacks in Manitoba, which is a definite no-no. Besides the foul odor of such attacks, there are strict House of Commons rules governing the content of such mailers. I suspect we haven’t heard the last of this story.

Dryden in Canadian Heritage would be interesting but a total waste of his talent. This is a guy who put together a national early learning and child care program with every single province in 18 months of minority government. He can do bigger things than most give him credit for.

"On a completely unrelated note, great post today by HarperBizarro on the Conservatives using taxpayer-funded mailers for partisan attacks in Manitoba, which is a definite no-no. Besides the foul odor of such attacks, there are strict House of Commons rules governing the content of such mailers. I suspect we haven’t heard the last of this story."

You might want to explain that to Mark Holland,who is unfortunately my MP.His news letters are usually a front to back page partisan attack on Harper.

Marlene should have a big role. And, having been one of Stephane's few caucus supporters, as well as eminently qualified, I'm sure she will.

I can't imagine Goodale being left out

Nor can I. As I said, the only scenario I can envision is if he's not running for election and asked to be passes over. The media are saying it's because he supported Rae for the leadership but that makes no sense, if only original Dion caucus supporters were put into shadow cabinet it would be by far the smallest shadow cabinets ever.

Dryden in Canadian Heritage would be interesting but a total waste of his talent.

Were we building a cabinet yes, but we're talking shadow cabinet here. Since he's supposed to be touring the country talking about Canada before the next election, I thought there'd be a nice serendipity there.

The media are saying it's because he supported Rae for the leadership but that makes no sense, if only original Dion caucus supporters were put into shadow cabinet it would be by far the smallest shadow cabinets ever.

I believe the issue the press is giving is that Goodale chose to support Rae while House Leader, and thus as a member of the party leadership, while Graham and Robillard didn't take sides.

Dion's cabinet needs brains with lungs attached. I don't care who people are politically. Smart words and reality are what sells everytime. Voters are not the lowest common denominator, they are the average. And while I get average results, I have lofty goals.

I'm not convinced Brison has demonstrated mature enough brains or lungs. Dryden on the other hand has. Iggy does too.

John Macallum (sp?)... I don't understand why he's so dithering. The guy has big brains but not the lungs.

I'm looking forward to seeing the team in action; it's great testing ground for cabinet. For Harper, he tested and then ignored his results.